Ebert joins pledge to cut school absenteeism by 50% in 5 years

Nevada Superintendent of Public Instruction Jhone Ebert has joined a national pledge to reduce chronic absenteeism by 50% over the next five years alongside 14 other states.

The commitment is a challenge led by education advocates to address post-pandemic school attendance trends in which chronic absence almost doubled from more than 8 million students, pre-COVID-19, to 14.7 million students as of the 2020-21 schoolyear, according to the most recent federal data, Attendance Works cites.

“Reducing it by 50% is a huge start and great progress was made this year,” Ebert said. “We’re down 9% just from last year. A lot of things are coming together all at once that will help our families understand how important it is to have a child in school.”

In a recent release from the Nevada Department of Education, the Silver State’s overall rate was 25.9% for the 2023-24 school year, down from 2022-23’s 34.9%.

The NDE reported 554 schools across Nevada, or 77%, lowered their chronic absenteeism rates and 416 schools, or 58%, reduced rates by at least 10 percentage points.

“We’re one of the states that had a higher statewide average for chronic absenteeism, so we need to learn with all the data with chronic absenteeism or mathematics, and we need to look at the data, we need to own the data and understand what it is the data is telling us,” Ebert said.

Ebert said like the teachers who are continually learning about best practices in the classroom with students, she also has gained insight about approaches to encourage families to recommit to school and reduce the absenteeism rates.

“First and foremost is the human touch with our families and our students,” she said.

Student engagement in the classroom or on campus is equally important, she said, with listening opportunities critical to learning why students often feel disconnected from school.

“They’re often opting out or walking away, thinking, ‘I feel that I’m not part of this community,’” Ebert said. “It’s through our listening to the students and showing them that we do care, that we want you to be at school and allowing that space for everyone to grow together.”

Ebert said Nevada’s participation in the pledge means working differently to help solve a problem that impacted everyone.